


It's All Fun (Until It's Haunted)

by Notquitegreylo



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Love, Mutual Pining, Nightmare Before Christmas References, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:34:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27312691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notquitegreylo/pseuds/Notquitegreylo
Summary: Ben lets Rey convince him to trick or treat with friends. Only the house they meet up at is...suspicious.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 12
Kudos: 42
Collections: A Fall Reylo Exchange





	It's All Fun (Until It's Haunted)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElleElle20](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElleElle20/gifts).



> This is a gift for the lovely Elle. I hope it's a treat.

Trudging behind Rey as slowly as he can get away with, Ben keeps glancing up at the looming gothic gray structure ahead. 

“Are you positive this is the address Poe gave you?” He’s grimacing as he asks, hoping she’ll suddenly realize it’s not in fact the correct location to meet the rest of their friends before they all go trick or treating.

Sighing at his usual reluctance to do anything fun, she turns to face him, hands on hips. “Listen up, Grumpy Gus… just because  _ you _ don’t like Halloween doesn’t mean you get to ruin everyone else’s.” Softening her stance slightly, she adds, “Besides, maybe I’ll even hold your hand if you get scared.” 

Winking at him just for shits and giggles, she turns on her heel and starts skipping through the crisp orangy-red leaves at her feet. 

Fondness takes the place of dread for a moment as he chuckles once again at her choice of costume. Rey  _ really  _ likes Halloween. And fancies herself Sally from her favorite movie,  _ The Nightmare Before Christmas. _

Of course, that meant that when Poe announced they were all - “Yes, Ben,  _ all of us,  _ despite our ages!” - going trick or treating this year before hitting up Hux’s Halloween party, Rey knew just who he should dress up as. 

  
And Ben can never say no to Rey.

No sooner had the “fine” left his lips than Rey began scouring the local thrift stores for a suit with tails that she could doctor up to look like Jack’s pinstriped one. 

“Do you have any fecking idea how hard it is to find a suit made for a mountain, Ben? Do you?” she asked after multiple failed attempts to locate one that would fit his 6’3’ frame. 

However, the joy on her face the day she rocketed through the front door of their apartment pumping her fist in the air and declaring victory was worth the hassle. 

What he enjoyed even more than that, though, was tonight. Before trekking through the too-quiet and too-dark street, that is. Because earlier, he’d had to sit still on the kitchen barstool and practice his box breathing to keep from wrapping his oven-mitt sized hands around Rey’s waist as she applied his face make-up.

Her strawberry-scented chapstick kept wafting up his nostrils every time she leaned in, nose all scrunched up adorably, to do any detailing. He wanted to taste her lips so bad that at one point he had to sit on his hands to keep himself under control.

Dammit! Why did he have to go and catch feelings for his roommate? That was not part of Ben’s five year plan.

Then again, offering to let Finn’s best friend “crash on his couch for just a week” that turned into a year wasn’t either.

And yet here he was. Trailing after Rey as usual, while she led him along through life with her usual enthusiasm to soften his curmudgeonly nature.

Rey took Ben’s silence to mean that he was coming along without further argument.

But no longer hearing his own lumbering gait behind her, she turned to see why he had stopped. 

Ben’s eyes were wide and he was stopped dead in his tracks. Following his line of sight, she noticed him staring at one of the second story windows of the old home they were en route to. 

“What? What is it now, Benjamin? Seriously. Did you see a ghost up there?” she taunts. Rey turns and makes a show of squinting up at the window, too. But seeing nothing but sheer drapes covering the clear glass of boxed window panes, she turns back around to tease him.

He absolutely saw something swish by the window up where his gaze was directed. For a home that was supposedly abandoned for more than a decade, it sure seemed like something was up there. And he’s pretty damn sure the shape looked human.  _ Oh gods! Let it be human! _

That’s it! Even the potential of holding Rey’s hand, and maybe feeling her tucked up snugly against him, in search of comfort, of course, doesn’t dispel Ben’s unease. 

“You know what? My stomach feels off. After we join up with everyone, I’m gonna head back home and lie down and see if it’ll pass.” He prays to every god he’s never believed in that she’ll just say “okay”.

She doesn’t.

“Benjamin Douglas Organa-Solo! You are not bagging out on me. You promised. And Poe and Finn have been planning this for ages.” Her plaintive response has the guilt creeping up on Ben quicker than their cat BB does when she’s stalking him.

  
And he hates both feelings. Equally.

Groaning against what he knows is a futile battle, he picks up the pace and resigns himself to whatever fate lies ahead.

_ Please, just don’t let it be death,  _ he silently pleads.  _ I haven’t even kissed Rey yet! _

Hearing laughter up ahead, Ben picks up the pace of his walking to catch up to Rey. 

“I wonder if Finn will finally get the courage to ask Rose out?” she muses aloud. 

Still concerned over what he thinks he saw in the window, Ben’s only reply is a “Hmmm?” before Rey grabs his hand, tugging him along faster toward their little gathered group.

And closer to the haunted house.

Ben’s sure it is. 

Haunted.

“Oh Rey, you make a FAB Sally!” Rose is enthralled with her friend’s costume as she comes running up to her. Rey had made a big deal out of keeping it a secret. Rose’s eyes go wide as Ben steps up next to Rey.

“Holy Halloween! REY! How did you convince Mr. ‘I Hate Halloween’ to get into this costume?” Rose doesn’t give Ben room to comment as she turns to Poe, Finn, Kaydel and Gwen. “Guys, guys, guys... look at BEN!”

Poe takes in Ben’s face makeup and starts laughing hysterically. “Rey… you didn’t even have to use make-up to make his eyebrows scowl!” He’s doubled over, and soon enough the rest of their friends have joined in.

“Ha ha, Poe. I actually think Rey did a phenomenal job with my makeup.” He turns to Rey with a soft smile.

That almost immediately slides from his face, as more movement from the imposing house behind them catches his eye. This time, from the main floor bay window. 

He is now one thousand percent positive that someone is in the house.  _ Please let it be some punk-ass teenagers playing pranks,  _ he silently pleads.

Rey notices, of course Rey notices, the fear that’s back on Ben’s face. Turning to eye the house again, Rose catches on to the direction of both of their stares and pipes up, “Yeah. We’ve been here for a few minutes and Poe  _ swears _ he keeps seeing movement behind the curtains of the windows.”

This gets Ben’s attention quickly. 

Excitement lacing his voice, Poe pipes up, “We are  _ totally  _ ditching trick or treating until we check that out.” He hitches his thumb over his shoulder to indicate “that” means the house. 

And, unfortunately, what Ben can only assume means the movements inside the house.

Now his stomach really is feeling not-right and he doesn’t have to lie about it. 

“You know when I told you my stomach hurt earlier, Rey? Well, it’s really ramping up now. I’m gonna head home.” He turns sideways and takes a step away from the group. 

But Rey catches his elbow with her small hand and grips firmly. “Ben, there is no such thing as ghosts. You know this. I know this. Poe  _ definitely  _ knows this!” She shoots Poe a death glare. “We’re just gonna have a little fun  _ all together as a group  _ proving it.”

Ben is so not on board for this. 

But, once again, he can’t say no to Rey. Closing his eyes for a long blink, he opens them back up and ekes out the smallest “okay” he can muster up.

Beaming smile back in place - and really, he lives for those - Rey slides her hand from his elbow down to his hand and laces her fingers with his. 

Ben looks down in awe, Rey looks down too. “What? I told you I’d hold your hand if you got scared.”

A small measure of newfound courage coursing through him, Ben allows Rey and the rest of their friends -  _ he now questions their level of friendship in forcing him to do this -  _ to lead him up the walkway of the neglected yard of the house they’ve been speculating about.

And that’s how Ben found himself standing in front of an ornate brass knocker raising his own meaty fist to knock on the peeling faded black paint of a house he was  _ beyond sure  _ was haunted.

  
  


***

  
  


Getting no response to the knock, Ben assumes everyone will be ready to move on to finally trick-or-treating down the rest of the tree-lined suburban street they’ve chosen. But as soon as he angles his body to step back down the front porch onto the walkway, they all collectively groan at him. 

“Where do you think you’re going, buddy? We  _ so  _ have to go check this out!” Poe is grinning from ear to ear. Rose, Finn, and Rey are too, nodding their heads eagerly. Only Gwen seems to have any of the same hesitation that Ben is feeling. 

“I don’t know about this. I can’t get caught breaking and entering. Not a good look for a 3rd year law student, guys.” Ben appeals to their sense of reason.

Nope. They’re not going for it.

Finn decides they should at least heed some of Ben’s hesitancy and move around to the side of the house and knock there, too. 

  
The first obstacle to this plan comes in the form of a locked wrought-iron gate. “See, Finn? If we go over that, we are  _ absolutely  _ breaking and entering. Not doing it!” Ben crosses his arms across his chest, highlighting the sheer expanse of his torso. 

Rey gasps a bit as she takes in his imposing form and blushes a bit as she recalls last night’s self-care session, when she imagined biting and licking her way up that very chest as she got off. 

Her gasp catches Rose’s ear, though, and she puts her hand on her shoulder to ask if she’s alright. 

“No, no,” Rey lies. “I just, um...I thought I saw a black cat cross behind Ben. Kind of freaked me out is all.” 

They all crane their necks in search of this alleged cat, but none of them see one. 

Narrowing her eyes at Rey, Rose needles her a bit. “Are you  _ sure  _ it was a cat that made you gasp, Rey?” 

Face red from being called out by someone who had watched her face turn various shades of red over their years together in the group home with Finn, Rey knew the jig was up. At least, where Rose was concerned. 

Because Poe and Finn had jumped the gate.

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, Gwen huffs. “I am not getting an arrest on my record for supposed supernatural activity.” Whirling on her heel she yells out, “I’m out! Heading over to Hux’s now. See you fools there.” 

Ben looks longingly after Gwen, really wishing he could just get the guts up to say, “You know what? That’s a great idea. Why don’t we all just do  _ that _ .” 

But no. No, Ben takes one look at the pleading look on Rey’s face and sees her excitement for an adventure, and decides that law doesn’t need to be his thing after all.

Checking both the side door (locked), and every window they could access on the way toward the back of the house, Poe announces they’d try one last knock on the back door and then pack it in. 

Ben heaves a huge sigh of relief.

Until Poe goes to knock on the back door and just swings open with a loud creak.

_ Fuck.  _

“Bloody fucking hell. That isn’t creepy  _ at all!”  _ Rey breathes out, echoing the very thing Ben’s thinking as his heart damn near thuds out of his chest.

For all the wrong reasons.

Because he’d much rather it beat that way because of some sexual activity. Preferably with Rey.

Looking at one another in silent surprise, Finn breaks the quiet and yells out, “Hello? Is anyone home? Trick or treat!”

Standing at the threshold, Poe gives Finn a little nudge so that he trip-steps over it into what is clearly the kitchen of a very obviously abandoned home. Cobwebs are everywhere, along with a thick layer of dust on every surface. The fading daylight provides each of them with plenty of light to see by. For now.

By the time they creep conga-line style through the kitchen, Finn calling out sporadically to make sure noone was indeed there, the light had faded. 

Ben couldn’t resist teasing Poe. “You know, for someone who was all fired up to have us ‘ _ so check this out’ _ I find it laughable that you are behind Finn, pushing him every step of the way.”

Poe cranes his neck back to scowl at Ben. Rose and Rey are sandwiched between them and find the whole exchange giggle-worthy. Ben smirks at him. 

A shriek erupts from Finn’s mouth, followed by each one of them, as they all hear the crash upstairs at the same time. 

Straightening up to turn right back around and march back out the way they came, because he is so done with this deathwish of Poe and Finn’s, Ben intends to get out. Rey’s hand grabs the front lapel of Ben’s suit and she whisper-shouts, “Don’t leave me!”

What’s he supposed to do now? Of course, he stays. 

  
“I would never leave you, Rey.” He stares down into the hazel of his favorite roommate’s eyes -  _ Finn’s were nowhere near as captivating -  _ and softens his gaze. 

Peering back at him with… something other than just fear in her own eyes, Rey swallows loudly. Before she gets a chance to thank him, though, the whole line of them goes tumbling down like dominoes as a black cat streaks through their legs and out the still partially open back door.

“Well,” Rose cautiously states the obvious, “there went the black cat.”

Rey is well and truly freaked out now. Ben is trying not to shake. Rose is wide-eyed in fear? Wonder? Ben doesn’t know. And he doesn’t want to stick around long enough to find out.

“C’mon guys. We’ve had our fun. It was just a cat. Let’s go trick or treating.” He makes a last-ditch attempt to get them out of this terrifying house. He really,  _ really  _ doesn’t feel a need to investigate upstairs.

But of course Poe and Finn do. 

“No way!” Finn is electrified by the adrenaline running through his veins after that scare. And Poe apparently is as well. They both turn to the rest of their friends and say the one thing,  _ the one fucking thing _ , Ben was hoping to gods they wouldn’t.

“Let’s split up and check out the upstairs.”

Ben sighs loudly. “Rey? Do you want to head out and we’ll trick or treat and leave these idiots to their demise?” He looks pointedly now at the ringleaders of this whole clusterfuck of an idea.

But Rey has caught on to their enthusiasm and is feeling emboldened by Ben’s refrigerator size behind her. “Nope.” She lets the “p” pop in a way that damn near causes a boner to pop for Ben as he watches her lips. “We’re doing this!” Grabbing his hand once again, she slides her own across his palm and turns to the rest of them. “Ben and I are going left. You guys go right.”

As usual, Ben’s helpless to argue.

He also really needs Rey to turn back around so he can adjust his cock in his pants.

Rose, Finn, and Poe head up the creaky wooden stairs, stepping lightly as they go. Rey follows, hands on Rose’s hips for now, with Ben bringing up the rear. It gives him a wonderfully unobstructed view of Rey’s perfect ass.  _ Fuck, he’d like to grab it!  _

Disgusted by the sheer volume of dust on the railing, Ben opts, instead, for balling his hands into fists at his sides. Although, when Rey misses a step and teeters, his hands reach out automatically to her waist to steady her.

She looks back over her shoulder with the sweetest smile to thank him.

Yep, not helping the boner situation.

At the top of the stairs, Poe, Finn, and Rose peel off to head right and Rey moves slowly -  _ thank gods she’s moving slowly -  _ down toward the first door off to the left. Ben feels like the eyes in the cracked oil painting of some random family member -  _ from the 1800’s maybe? - _ are following them.  _ Why the fuck does it matter when the old bat was painted Ben,  _ he rails at himself mentally.

He really just wants to be done with this whole ridiculous venture and get back to trick or treating. 

Rey steps into the first rooms gingerly and peers through the dim twilight. “Ben,” she whispers. “That’s a...that’s a - coat rack in the corner, right?” 

Right behind her, his eyes veer off to the corner she’s looking into. He holds a breath as he takes in…

  
Yes. A coat rack. 

Thank fuck!

“Rey, we don’t have to check out the other two rooms. You know that, right? We are adults capable of leaving if we want to.” He murmurs into her ear, enjoying the smell of her citrusy shampoo.

“Don’t be a party-pooper. We  _ know _ this house isn’t haunted, Benjamin. But isn’t the thrill of it fun all the same?” She’s turned completely and stands with her face just inches from his. Leaning in, she plants a light peck on his cheek and says, “There! For a little more courage.” Winking at him, she takes his hand once again and marches them out of the room and on to the next one down the hall.

Ben doesn’t dare let go, because if she’s willing to kiss his cheek for courage, he thinks maybe planting a real kiss on her lips in the next room might be possible. And maybe even, judging by the look in her eyes, well-received. 

Feeling a thrill of a different kind than Rey was talking about, at the prospect of feeling Rey’s lips against his own, Ben walks a little more purposefully behind her.

But all the good feelings are gone when they enter the next bedroom, Rey gets braver and moves to check out the closet. 

  
  


Ben steps up behind Rey as quietly as he can in the hopes that whatever might be in there would be scared off by two people instead of just one. Rey could hold her own for sure - hell, she could roundhouse his ass any day - but he didn’t want it happening to  _ her. _

_ Man up, Ben!  _ He hears his father’s voice in his head as he opens his mouth and leans down to Rey’s ear to let her know he’s there.

But she feels his breath disturb the hairs at the back of her neck and wheels around. “Ben! Fucking hell! Damn near shat my pants! Don’t sneak up on a girl like that. Shit, you’re worse than BB when she’s stalking us!”

And that is when they both spot the shape of a woman’s body, hazy, but there, at the window, curtains fluttering behind her. 

Frozen to the spot, they both stand still as statues. 

She speaks in an old woman’s voice -  _ the woman in the painting -  _ Ben faintly registers. “I saw your futures.Together. Just the shape of it. But solid, and clear.”

Ben’s not waiting around to hear any more. Although, admittedly, that part wasn’t so bad. Grabbing Rey around the waist, he physically lifts her as though she weighs nothing and half-runs out of the room, not putting her down again until they are at the top of the stairs. 

Poe, Finn, and Rose miraculously skid to a stop at the top of the stairs at the same time.

Rose pants out, “I don’t want to talk about it. Move it!”

No one has to ask a single one of them twice.

***

Scared witless, they book it down the stairs and out the back door they came through. Racing through the leaves covering the yard of this clearly haunted property, Ben makes sure to keep a hold of Rey’s hand the whole way out to the sidewalk.

Breathing heavily, they all take a moment to catch their breath before walking any further.

“So… that was something.” Poe says with a little less arrogance than usual.

“Yeah,” they all seem to say in unison.

Finn saves them all from any further debate about trick or treating. “I say we head straight to Hux’s, grab a cup of his famous Halloween Jacked Juice, and never speak of this again.”

Looking around at each of them, Ben is wildly relieved to see that reason has once again returned to their brain cells.

Each nods solemnly. “Yep”. “Yes please.” “Hell yes!” and “For the love of Halloween, YES!” all come out in rapid succession.

Gwen and Hux swing the door open at their knock, and Gwen can’t help but snort. “Well, you survived.” But taking in their still slightly pale faces and shaky demeanor, she adds, “C’mon, then. Come drink it off.”

Letting Rose, Poe, and Finn move ahead, Rey takes both lapels of Ben’s jacket in her hands and peers up at him through her lashes. It’s only then that Ben notices the white of his makeup on her lips from where she kissed his cheek earlier. 

Not stopping to think, he lifts one hand up to brace her jaw and rubs the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip to get some of the white makeup off.

Rey gasps again. He blinks as the sound of her gasp reaches his brain and reminds him of the gasp she made earlier in the evening. 

“Rey, are you alright?” He thinks she might actually be just as affected by him as he has been by her. But he doesn’t want to hope too much. 

Reaching her fingers up to wrap around the hand at her jaw, she nods slowly. “Yep.” Popping the “p” again -  _ fuck, he loves it when she does that -  _ she gives him a shy smile. She tilts her lips up toward his and he naturally gravitates right toward them. 

Moving his hands down to wrap around her waist, he squeezes before letting the feel of her lips sliding against his overtake any further rational thinking.

Rey sweeps her tongue across Ben’s bottom lip, asking for entrance. He opens his mouth and sets to devouring the inside of Rey’s own with his hot tongue. Squirming against him in an attempt to leave no space between them, she feels his half-hard member straining against her core. 

Moaning at the feel of her body tucked up against him, Ben realizes that they either need to move this to a bedroom or stop. Which brings where they are into startling clarity. They are Hux’s house. There is no fucking way he’s going to make love to Rey for the first time in someone else’s house.

But now, he’s feeling more sure than ever that his spicy sweet roommate wants him just as much as he wants her. 

They both find themselves out of breath but reluctant to let go of one another. He smiles down at her, but Rey speaks first. “The sooner we go get that drink and chat with everyone, the sooner we can go home.” Ben watches as her eyelashes flutter against the freckles at the crest of her cheekbones before looking back up at him. “And then maybe, if you want, we can continue this at home?”

Ben blinks at her. And then leans down to give her a quick chaste peck on her lips before saying, “Yes. Fuck, yes please Rey. I’ve wanted to since the day I met you.”

Beaming at him, she coyly says, “Well, Benjamin, you’re not alone in thinking that. So let’s go.” 

Grabbing his hand, she strides down the hall with Ben hot on her heels.

As they round the corner of the hallway into Hux’s kitchen, they hear Poe chuckling as he says, “And it was all fun until it was haunted.” Seeing Rey and Ben step into the kitchen Poe stops, mid-story. Taking in the mixed face makeup each of them share, he leers at them. “So you two wanna talk about it?”

Rey and Ben look at each other. Then they turn back to their friends. “Nope.” They both pop the “p” this time. Chortling at their mutual emphasis, Ben realizes he doesn’t even need a kiss on the cheek for courage. He knows as soon as they hit his bed back at home, they’ll be starting that future the old ghost spoke of. His pull to Rey is too strong to be anything other than sure of it.

Turns out, it’s fun even  _ after  _ it’s haunted.


End file.
